{"id":30421,"date":"2023-02-23T16:43:28","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T15:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1784676"},"modified":"2023-02-23T16:58:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T15:58:20","slug":"the-gold-how-did-the-brinks-mat-gold-disappear-in-bbc-drama","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/the-gold-how-did-the-brinks-mat-gold-disappear-in-bbc-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gold \u2013 how did the Brink\u2019s-Mat gold disappear in BBC drama?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The series charts the incredible true story of the Brink’s-Mat robbery. <\/p>

By Abby Robinson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 23 February 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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New BBC drama The Gold<\/a> tells a story so extraordinary it\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s true.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The series dramatises the 1980s Brink\u2019s Mat robbery<\/a>, which saw\u00a0\u00a0half a dozen thieves break into <\/span>the Brink\u2019s-Mat depot near London\u2019s Heathrow Airport and stumble upon<\/span>\u00a0gold bullion worth \u00a326 million, carrying out a robbery that has since become a seminal event in British criminal history.<\/p>\n

The series<\/a> depicts the events of the crime, f<\/span>ollowing the <\/span>cat-and-mouse chase between the robbers and the special task force trying to catch them, as well as exploring its far-reaching consequences<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s one question that might have you scratching your head if you\u2019ve reached the end of The Gold<\/a>:<\/span>\u00a0how on <\/span>earth<\/span><\/i> did <\/span>the culprits<\/span><\/a> convert the stolen bars into cold hard cash without immediate arrest?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re wondering what happened to the Brink\u2019s-Mat gold, and how the robbers executed the scheme so that the stolen gold was never recovered while their pockets grew deeper in the BBC drama<\/a>, read on to find out.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What happened to the Brink\u2019s-Mat gold in BBC drama?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Charlotte Spencer as Nikki Jennings in The Gold.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
  1. First things first, scrub the serial numbers from the gold bars using a portable smelter.<\/li>\n
  2. Purchase more gold legitimately and keep the receipts \u2013 merchant John Palmer puts out a TV advert asking people to sell him their gold. If they\u2019re stopped by the police, they have documents to back up their seemingly lawful enterprise.<\/li>\n
  3. Transport the Brink\u2019s-Mat gold in small batches to John, who mixes it with the gold he\u2019s acquired legally. But that\u2019s not sufficient. It\u2019s impossible to disguise it as scrap jewellery because it\u2019s too pure.<\/li>\n
  4. To get around that, they contact a registered gold importer \u2013 \u201csomeone they can coerce\u201d \u2013 who can produce fake documentation paperwork.<\/li>\n
  5. The gold can then be certified for sale by an assay \u2013 a company which measures the purity of gold and has the power to give it the official seal of approval. \u201cIf it\u2019s gold, they sign it off.\u201d<\/li>\n
  6. The gold merchant can then take the stolen gold, now disguised as a legitimate product, and sell it to a bullion wholesaler \u2013 there are four in the UK, one of which is Johnson Matthey, the owner of the stolen product. They\u2019re none the wiser about buying back their own gold. Those wholesalers also supply every jeweller in Britain, which explains how so many products came to contain the Brink\u2019s-Mat gold.<\/li>\n
  7. The merchant receives money from the sale of the gold. \u201cIf this country had proper banking laws, a bank branch suddenly seeing a company earning vast amounts of money and withdrawing it in cash, they might tell someone about it. But we don\u2019t, so they wont.\u201d The merchant takes their cut and the rest is paid into a bank account set up in Europe.<\/li>\n
  8. That money is then invested in a company which uses the capital to invest in property and other ventures.<\/li>\n
  9. Over time, those processes become swifter and more streamlined until both the gold and the money disappear, \u201clike it never happened\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ol>

    Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n